ABSTRACT
News media hostility to bureaucracy is a fixed field in American political culture. It has its roots in the eighteenth-century antigovernment motive of the founding of the republic. Contemporary negative coverage of public administration must therefore be understood as being deeply embedded in historical tradition. While some public agencies may, occasionally, receive positive coverage, such stories are the exception, rather than the rule. Civil servants need to accept this harsh media environment, and not just bemoan it. Constructive responses can include professionalizing agency public information activities, planning for external communications during a crisis or emergency, proactively seeking coverage, being sensitive to a public relations perspective during the policy development process, and, with the emergence of increasingly sophisticated e-government technologies, bypassing the media to reach the public directly.
